Minnesota Vikings owner Zigy Wilf offers words of encouragement to his head coach Mike Zimmer before start of the Vikings game against the Bears at TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday, December 20, 2015. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Only the owners of the Minnesota Vikings back in New Jersey, Zygi and Mark Wilf, have an idea what their team will look like next season and beyond. And they haven’t indicated that yet.

Going forward, it’ll be up to the Wilfs to decide how much money they’re willing to continue to invest in players, and whether general manager Rick Spielman, coach Mike Zimmer and quarterback Kirk Cousins are worth retaining beyond next season.

Contrary to popular perception, managing the Vikings’ tight salary cap isn’t magic. What it really comes down to is how much money ownership, which has been abundantly generous the last several years, is willing to spend in its long-stated quest for the Lombardi Trophy.

The issue for the Wilfs now is whether to continue to spend or scale back and rebuild.

Spielman, Zimmer and Cousins are signed for just this year. A parallel situation to that of the Vikings is the Atlanta Falcons, a team that has spent a lot of money, has been on the verge of contending but hasn’t fulfilled its promise.

The Falcons committed a lot of money ($150 million, with $100 million guaranteed over five years) to QB Matt Ryan, and wide receiver Julio Jones ($66 million guaranteed for three years). Ryan turns 35 years old this spring; Jones turns 31 next month.

Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff and coach Dan Quinn are under contract for three more years, so they weren’t fired after this season’s 7-9 finish.

The Wilfs could extend Spielman, Zimmer or Cousins, who has completed the second season of a guaranteed $84 million, three-year contract, or ride out next season, then see what happens.

What is interesting is that the Vikings, if Kevin Stefanski was to be their head coaching future, didn’t make a move to keep the young (37) offensive coordinator, who has taken the head coaching job of the Cleveland Browns.

It would seem that Stefanski, who had been a Vikings assistant for 14 years, would have preferred to remain in Minnesota had he been promised the head Vikings job. But he wasn’t, and that is an indication the Vikings weren’t willing to fire Zimmer to promote Stefanski.

Stefanski’s replacement, Gary Kubiak, ostensibly ran the Vikings’ offense last season, so there won’t be much change in 2020.

No doubt Vikings assistant GM George Paton, for withdrawing from Browns GM consideration, will receive a nice salary increase. Paton should be heir apparent to Spielman, who is rumored among several possibilities for the Washington Redskins GM job.

The Gophers’ P.J. Fleck ($3.6 million) last season was tied with Iowa State’s Matt Campbell for 36th among college football’s highest paid coaches, according to 247sports.com. Next season, Fleck’s salary increases to $4.6 million a year, and that should shoot him up to No. 21 overall.

New Twins Hall of Fame member Justin Morneau chose jersey No. 33 because it was worn by his idol, former Expos-Rockies slugger Larry Walker, a fellow Canadian who last week was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Derek Jeter, elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame last week, was the sixth overall pick by the Yankees in the 1992 draft, when the Twins, picking No. 26 overall, chose Dan Serafini in the first round.

Adam Thielen, at No. 19, is the highest-selling Viking among top-50 NFL-licensed apparel of players. Next Viking is Stefon Diggs at No. 38.

The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes has replaced the Pats’ Tom Brady as No. 1.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta, who last week was named chairman of the new College Football Playoff selection committee, is the same guy who quarterbacked Burnsville to the state football championship in 1980.

Phil Mickelson, winner of 44 PGA tour tournaments, including five majors, said it’s too early to determine whether he’ll return to the 3M Open at the Tournament Players Club in Blaine (July 23-26).

“I’d love to come back; it’s right after the British (Open), and I’ve looked at it,” Mickelson, 49, told the Pioneer Press last week at the American Express tournament at PGA West in La Quinta.

“I enjoyed my time (at the TPC), but I can’t promise it because I just don’t know how the summer’s going to play out. It’s going to be one of those years where I make the decision like a week or two prior. And the Olympics (July 30-Aug. 8 in Tokyo), that’s another thing, too.”

Hall of Fame hockey player Brett Hull, who played at Minnesota-Duluth and golfs at Northland CC in Duluth, was among the top six amateur finishers in the American Express tournament.

Working his 15th year as a PGA Tour rules official is Mark Dusbabek, the former Vikings/Gophers linebacker from Faribault.

He was at La Quinta after spending three weeks working in Hawaii.

“It’s fantastic,” Dusbabek, 55, said of his golf globetrotting career. “I haven’t been tired of it, although sometimes it can be a little old being on the road and missing my wife.”

Last year, Dusbabek flew 158,000 miles working tournaments.

This year, the PGA Tour, hoping to curb slow play, will identify frequent offenders, then require they make their shot within 60 seconds or get a warning or penalty strokes or be fined a minimum of $10,000.

“It’s for players who over a span of 10 tournaments averaged over 45 seconds per qualified shot,” Dusbabek said.

Four-time PGA Tour winner Tim Herron, who lives in Deephaven and turns 50 next week, will make his Champions Tour debut in Naples, Fla., Feb. 14-16, in the Chubb Classic.

Herron hopes to play in at least two dozen senior tour events and has been tuning up at Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“There are only (senior tour) 78 guys now I’ve got to beat instead of (regular tour) 156,” Herron said. “I talked to (tour veteran Steve) Stricker and he said it’s so hard to win out there because you’ve got to shoot so low. So it’s a little different mentality. I’m going to ease into it.”

Sarah Burnham, the former Minnesota state high school golf champion from Wayzata, heads to Victoria, Australia this week to compete as a full member of the LPGA Tour.

Kid to watch: Mendota Heights’ Sam Udovich, 12, continues to excel on the national junior golf circuit, last weekend shooting two-under-par 72-70 in winning his age group in the Copperhead Classic in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Laura Larson, the former Lakeville North-University of Arizona volleyball star who was the Pac-12’s 2016 Scholar-Athlete (3.97 GPA with a degree in molecular and cellular biology), has been named one of the top 10 Arizona volleyball players of the decade (2010-19).

Larson, who is an accountant in Minneapolis and assistant coach of the Minnesota One Volleyball Club, is the daughter of Xcel Energy Center GM Jack Larson.

Niko Guardado, 23, who used to polish Twins players shoes at the Metrodome and is the son of ex-Twins closer Eddie Guardado, stars in TV’s new “Party of Five” reboot 10-episode series.

Former Viking Pat Eilers, a graduate of St. Thomas Academy and Notre Dame, has sponsored the replacement of the Cadets’ artificial football field turf, at a cost of more than $500,000, and endowed a coaching position on the Irish’s staff.

Some 120 baseball enthusiasts paid more than $4,000 to participate in the Twins fantasy camp in Fort Myers, Fla., this month. General manager Kent Hrbek led a campers players draft for games.

DON’T PRINT THAT

The Twins, as they did in signing Max Kepler ($35 million, five years) and Jorge Polanco ($26 million, five years) a year ago, got another bargain with their recent signing of Miguel Sano ($30 million, three years).

The Twins got Sano to give up two years of free agency. At age 26, if he stays healthy, he has the potential to hit 50 home runs a season. He hit 34 in 105 games last season. If Sano eats his way out of production, though, the Twins, who still have salary room, are on the hook for just $10 million a year.

The Twins payroll is expected to increase to about $135 million this season, some $15 million more than last year. That would leave Minnesota near the middle of baseball’s 30 major league clubs.

Barring injuries, with the signing of third baseman Josh Donaldson ($92 million, four years), the Twins, who won 101 games last season, are a virtual cinch to win 100 this year and the Central Division. That probably would be the second-best record in the American League, behind the Yankees.

And with the second-best record, the Twins might not have to play the Yankees until the league championship series. Last season, the Twins were swept by the Yankees in a first-round playoff series.

It’s a good bet that Jose Berrios’ reluctance to sign a multiyear contract is that he wants to be paid like an ace. But he hasn’t proven he’s an ace. Berrios’ market value is about $60 million for five years, not $80 million that he is thought to be seeking.

Ex-Gopher Amir Coffey, playing for $79,568 this season for the LA Clippers’ G League, is averaging 11.5 points after 10 games.

Ex-Gopher Jordan Murphy is averaging 9.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 29 games for the G League Iowa Wolves, who will host Coffey’s team on Saturday in Des Moines.

Coach Tom Izzo, whose Michigan State men’s basketball team plays the Gophers on Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena, was to come to town two days early to watch Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore point guard Tre Holloman.

Izzo, by the way, will receive a $4 million contingency bonus if he remains the Spartans’ coach through April 2022.

Rumors persist that the Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium is being sought to host the final MIAC St. John’s-St. Thomas football game on Nov. 7.

Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. from Minneapolis and the Arizona Cardinals has bought a limited interest in the Phoenix Suns, according to multiple reports.

The Timberwolves’ trade of guards Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham to Atlanta for guard Allen Crabbe was made solely for roster flexibility next year. There is no chance the Wolves will re-sign Crabbe, who’s also on an expiring contract.

Vikings players will receive $28,000 apiece in playoff bonuses for defeating the Saints before losing to the 49ers.

Look for Sartell, Minn., native Mike Spanier, who is one of four Minnesotans officiating in the NFL, to work the Pro Bowl on Sunday in Orlando, Fla., then retire after a 21-year career in the league.

Cretin-Derham Hall has received nearly a dozen applications for a new head baseball coach.

Regarding June’s NBA draft, who would you rather have on your team, 6-11 Timberwolf Gorgui Dieng, 30, who is being paid $16.2 million this season, or Gophers’ 6-10 sophomore Daniel Oturu, 20?

The Twins, still seeking starting pitching, could consider Tigers’ left-hander Matt Boyd. He’s not an ace, but he’s under team control for the next three years and has a $6.4 million contract for 2020, with two salary arbitration years after that.

Another trade prospect for the Twins, with status similar to that of Boyd, could be lefty starter Steven Matz, 28. The Mets have a surplus of starting pitching.

For Boyd, 28, or Matz, the Twins probably would have had to part with Eddie Rosario, but would be able to keep top prospects Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, Brusdar Graterol and Trevor Larnoch. Available for Detroit probably would be prospects Nick Gordon, Brent Rooker, Lewis Thorpe or even Randy Dobnak.

OVERHEARD

Tim Laudner, catcher for the Twins 1987 World Series championship team, on how he responded to hitters who tried to peek to steal his signs to pitchers: “Hey, it’s a long season and we don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

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